ABSTRACT
All nations exhibit some degree of chauvinism, and embattled Mexico—"so far from God and so close to the United States" in the words of a distinguished ex-president—has certainly indulged in its share of nationalistic rhetoric and chest-pounding. But since the revolution in the early 1920s, Mexico has also opened out onto the world. The influence of drug money and culture is also evident everywhere. It has invaded the lowest and highest echelons of the government and has been the subject of extensive coverage in US journals. During the Fall, the coastal and southern parts of Mexico were devastated by torrential rains. The tourist areas of Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Acapulco—tourism is Mexico's second largest industry—were severely affected and the damage to crops has been immense and irreparable. Thousands upon thousands of livelihoods have been ruined, as have the structures, however humble, that many Mexican peasants have been able to call home.
